What drives innovation? How does it contribute to the growth of firms, industries, and economies? And do intellectual property rights help or hurt innovation and growth? Uniquely combining microeconomics, macroeconomics, and theory with empirical analysis drawn from the United States and Europe, this book introduces graduate students and advanced undergraduates to the complex process of innovation. By addressing all the major dimensions of innovation in a single text, Christine Greenhalgh and Mark Rogers are able to show how outcomes at the microlevel feed through to the macro-outcomes that in turn determine personal incomes and job opportunities.

In four sections, this textbook comprehensively addresses the nature of innovation and intellectual property, the microeconomics and macroeconomics of innovation, and economic policy at the firm and macroeconomic levels. Among the topics fully explored are the role of intellectual property in creating incentives to innovate; the social returns of innovation; the creation and destruction of jobs by innovation; whether more or fewer intellectual property rights would give firms better incentives to innovate; and the contentious issues surrounding international treaties on intellectual property.

Clearly organized and highly readable, the book is designed to be accessible to readers without advanced economics backgrounds. Most technical materials appear in boxed inserts and appendixes, and numerous graphs and tables elucidate abstract concepts.

Provides a comprehensive overview of the economic causes and effects of innovation

Includes up-to-date coverage of trends and policy in intellectual property and research and development

Features mathematics appendix and keywords and questions to assist learning and teaching

Outline lecture slides are available online

Reviews:

"[T]his textbook clearly will fill a gap in the market and is well designed to raise important questions in a student's mind. The bringing together of both micro- and macro-economic considerations, the strong treatment of statistical difficulties in analyzing these topics, and the consideration of the impact of innovation on wages and jobs are all major advances. The authors are to be congratulated."--Hazel V. J. Moir, Prometheus

Endorsements:

"This excellent book fills a need for an undergraduate- and master's-level text on the economics of innovation, one that covers both the micro- and macroeconomic aspects. It will also be useful reading for anyone who wants an introduction to the way economists analyze topics such as research and development incentives and innovation, and how these factors contribute to growth."--Bronwyn H. Hall, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Maastricht

"This important book breaks new ground in identifying and analyzing the key ingredients driving economic growth. By weaving together the links between intellectual property and innovative activity and their ultimate impact on growth, Greenhalgh and Rogers provide a new and original framework for guiding both public policy and future scholarship, one that is compelling and accessible."--David Audretsch, Max Planck Institute of Economics and Indiana University

"The authors have achieved the remarkable feat of comprehensively summarizing the extensive and diverse literature on the sources, types, and effects of modern innovation. The book will appeal to advanced undergraduates and master's-level students and is likely to become a standard reference and text for courses in innovation, management strategy, and global business."--Keith E. Maskus, University of Colorado at Boulder